Mel Gibson poured his heart out for Jodie Foster. She's embraced that heart forever.
Gibson stars in Foster's new dramedy, "The Beaver," as a lonely, deranged man who has befriended, and speaks through, a beaver puppet he carries on his arm. It's a role into which he gave his all, and a role she knew he'd be perfect for once previously attached Steve Carell had scheduling conflicts.
"The performance he gave in this movie, I will always be grateful for," Foster told The Hollywood Reporter. "He brought a lifetime of pain to the character that we've been talking about for years, that I knew was part of his psyche and who he is. It's part of him that is beautiful and that I want people to know, too. I can't ever regret that."
Gibson's trouble with ex Oksana Grigorieva -- including the threatening phone calls that have caused him a world of legal trouble -- came down as the film was being edited and filming reshoots, leading Gibson to break down to Foster. It was something she was ready for, and helping her old friend is a role for which she's long been ready.
"He's so incredibly loving and sensitive, he really is," she says. "He is the most loved actor I have ever worked with on a movie. And he's not saintly, and he's got a big mouth, and he'll do gross things your nephew would do. But I knew the minute I met him that I would love him the rest of my life."
Gibson, whose racist and anti-semitic rants have caused him trouble, troubled the film's distributing studio, Summit. But the star will be working to raise the profile of the movie, and whether Grigorieva's continued legal assault on Gibson sticks will help determine the film's sucess.
For much more on Gibson, Foster and Foster's career, click over to The Hollywood Reporter.